■ITALY
‘Big mouth’ strikes again
Inter coach Jose Mourinho was branded a “bigmouth” by the chief executive of rival Serie A side Catania yesterday after an exchange of insults between the pair. Mourinho, known for his inflammatory comments while coach of Chelsea, began the spat on Saturday when he said his side had deserved to beat Catania 5-1, despite only winning the match 2-1. Catania chief executive Pietro Lo Monaco hit back by saying Mourinho had insulted the whole of the Sicilian city, adding that he risked “having his teeth smashed.” Lo Monaco apologized for the comment, saying it was a Sicilian turn of phrase and he did not advocate violence. Mourinho joked in reply that he had heard of the Monaco Grand Prix but not the Catania official, whom he accused of using his name for free publicity. Yesterday, Lo Monaco issued a statement on Catania’s Web site denouncing the Portuguese coach. “Inter, and I say this with true conviction, have the strongest setup in Europe. It’s a shame they have been shown to have the biggest bigmouth coach of the continent,” the statement said.
■ENGLAND
Clarke teams up with Zola
Steve Clarke joined West Ham as first team coach after agreeing on a compensation package with English Premier League rivals Chelsea on Monday. Clarke’s resignation was initially rejected on Friday, but he can now link up with new Hammers manager Gianfranco Zola after signing a three-year deal. He became Jose Mourinho’s assistant manager at Chelsea in 2004, and continued in the role under Avram Grant and successor Luiz Felipe Scolari. “Steve is rightly regarded as one of the top coaches in Europe and his experience and knowledge will be a huge asset to us,” West Ham chief executive Scott Duxbury said.
■SCOTLAND
Nakamura seeks retun home
Japan and Celtic midfielder Shunsuke Nakamura says he wants to return to his his old J-League home, Yokohama Marinos, and possibly as early as January, Japanese media reported yesterday. “I’m thinking first about Marinos. I have no other team in mind,” the lynchpin of Japan’s World Cup qualifying campaign, told Japanese reporters in Glasgow on Monday. “Since Marinos raised me, it’s quite natural for me to play there.” Nakamura was earlier quoted by British media as saying he may return to Japan during the January transfer window, as he is tired of traveling long distances for international matches. His contract expires next summer. Celtic chief executive Peter Lawwell told British media at the weekend: “Celtic would be more than happy for Shunsuke to stay here for as long as he wants and certainly we want him to remain here until the end of the season. But his agent has intimated Shunsuke would like to return to Japan at some point.”
■ENGLAND
City cool on Ronaldo rumors
Manchester City have decided against following up an interest in former Brazil striker Ronaldo, the club said yesterday following claims by the player that he was set to move to England. The 31-year-old is without a club and has been attempting to regain fitness following knee surgery in February by training with Brazilian club Flamengo. He was quoted this week as saying that he had received an offer from City that he planned to accept and that he was looking forward to linking up with compatriot Robinho in Manchester. But a City spokesperson said the club would not be pursuing their interest in the former Barcelona and AC Milan forward.
RECORD DEFEAT: The Shanghai-based ‘Oriental Sports Daily’ said the drubbing was so disastrous, and taste so bitter, that all that is left is ‘numbness’ Chinese soccer fans and media rounded on the national team yesterday after they experienced fresh humiliation in a 7-0 thrashing to rivals Japan in their opening Group C match in the third phase of Asian qualifying for the 2026 World Cup. The humiliation in Saitama on Thursday against Asia’s top-ranked team was China’s worst defeat in World Cup qualifying and only a goal short of their record 8-0 loss to Brazil in 2012. Chinese President Xi Jinping once said he wanted China to host and even win the World Cup one day, but that ambition looked further away than ever after a
‘KHELIFMANIA’: In the weeks since the Algerian boxer won gold in Paris, national enthusiasm is inspiring newfound interest in the sport, particularly among women In the weeks since Algeria’s Imane Khelif won an Olympic gold medal in women’s boxing, athletes and coaches in the North African nation say national enthusiasm is inspiring newfound interest in the sport, particularly among women. Khelif’s image is practically everywhere, featured in advertisements at airports, on highway billboards and in boxing gyms. The 25-year-old welterweight’s success in Paris has vaulted her to national hero status, especially after Algerians rallied behind her in the face of uninformed speculation about her gender and eligibility to compete. Amateur boxer Zougar Amina, a medical student who has been practicing for a year, called Khelif an
Crowds descended on the home of 17-year-old Chinese diver Quan Hongchan after she won two golds at the Paris Olympics while gymnast Zhang Boheng hid in a Beijing airport toilet to escape overzealous throngs of fans. They are just two recent examples of what state media are calling “toxic fandom” and Chinese authorities have vowed to crack down on it. Some of the adulation toward China’s sports stars has been more sinister — fans obsessing over athletes’ personal lives, cyberbullying opponents or slamming supposedly crooked judges. Experts say it mirrors the kind of behavior once reserved for entertainment celebrities before
GOING GLOBAL: The regular season fixture is part of the football league’s increasingly ambitious plans to spread the sport to international destinations The US National Football League (NFL) breaks new ground in its global expansion strategy tomorrow when the Philadelphia Eagles and Green Bay Packers face off in the first-ever grid-iron game staged in Brazil. For one night only, the land of Pele and ‘The Beautiful Game’ will get a rare glimpse into the bone-crunching world of American football as the Packers and Eagles collide at Sao Paulo’s Neo Quimica Arena, the 46,000-seat home of soccer club Corinthians. The regular season fixture is part of the NFL’s increasingly ambitious plans to spread the US’ most popular sport to new territories following previous international fixtures
RSS